SF Roe Protester Injected With Sedative: Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Civil rights attorney John Burris announced a federal lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a Roe v. Wade protester alleging that while in an act of civil disobedience, she was injected with an unknown sedative without consent by members of the San Francisco fire and police departments.

On June 13, Kareim McKnight and friend Amanda Piasecki went to the Golden State Warriors' game against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center in San Francisco. They did not have the playoffs in mind, but rather the U.S. Supreme Court's pending decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The civil rights lawsuit filed against the city, its police and fire departments in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California states that McKnight and Piasecki paid for their tickets and brought a banner that read, "Overturn Roe? Hell No," which they held up during the first quarter.
They chanted "abortion on demand and without apology. Without this basic right, women cannot be free. Rise up for abortion rights," according to a statement from Burris' firm.

NBA security guards surrounded the pair and grabbed them by their hands and feet when they reached the main floor. The two women continued to chant and were then dragged out of the arena and handed off to police, according to videos from the night included in the suit.

Outside the arena, Piasecki was immediately released, but footage shows that McKnight was held down and handcuffed. A San Francisco police officer threatened her with a sedative, for which she firmly refused, and she was placed on a gurney and strapped down. McKnight says she was injected with a sedative by San Francisco fire department personnel anyways.

"Giving an injection to a protester against her will is shocking and illegal," said Burris, McKnight's attorney. "There was no evidence that Ms. McKnight was a danger to herself or anyone else. She was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and she was protesting and making herself heard. That in and of itself cannot justify injecting a foreign substance into a person without proof of a medical or safety need, which was not the case for Ms. McKnight."

In Burris' long law career, he said he has never encountered a protester being sedated while being of sound mind, non-violent and practicing civil disobedience.

McKnight says she was not asked about pre-existing medical conditions or allergies before she was drugged, which pushes Burris to believe the sedative was mean-spirited, dangerous and meant to silence her. He hopes that this case will force the police to develop a strict policy when it comes to administering sedatives.

Jonathan Baxter, a public information officer for the San Francisco Fire Department, said he could not comment on the pending lawsuit, but he noted that paramedics for the department are authorized to administer the sedative Midazolam when a person is "severely agitated to posing a danger to self or others."

McKnight said that sedative made her sluggish and caused the slurring of her words. Noting the release of her friend, McKnight, a Black woman, questioned the police's motives. When asked why they gave her injections, officers said it was for their safety which McKnight said was ridiculous and a cover for punishing her for protesting at a critical playoff game.

"I have to ask," said McKnight in a video. "Is this something you reserve for Black people?"
San Francisco police were not available for comment. The San Francisco Fire Department referred inquiries about the lawsuit to the city attorney's office, which was also not immediately available for comment.

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